Process for the treatment and separation of complex sulfid ores.



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tain new and-useful Improvements in Proo reeidingva t Broken Hill, in the tate of New 1 South ales, Australia, have invented cer- SSBSiQr the Treatment and Separation of cable with economy and efiiciency to so Complex Sulfid Ores; and I do declare the v folloyvmg to b8)! ,full, clear, and exactde- 7 l0 -seription of the invention, such as will e11- ehle others skilled in the art to which it ap portainsgto make and use the same.

' Thisinvention has been devised to provide an improved process of obteining the val uable leons'tituents-from that class of ores v known as complex su'lfid ores ;'-;I would also have it understood that the process and -means employed therein are of course apYlllii ores of a simple nature. V

I have discovered that ,if finely crushed I suifid ores eretreat'ed with ohlor'in gas in a distil ofi at comparatively low temperafor further treatment as may he wanted, I

. akeplaoe 111th furnapei are represented sufiicien'tly heated furnace it is possible to separate-practically the Whole of the sulfide from the gangue as chloride and that these tin-w and are collected. On the other hand .if a, lower temperature is used in the furnace some kind of chloride may he ,distilled' 0R. while others are retained with thegangue also discovered that the vaporized chlorids could be -practioellyseparated from each other in ii-molten state by Q ondens' g Iin fi'aotions. Having ,seperated the ch pride." from each other thmmetals can be obtained by electrolysisor otherwise, and the chlorin is recovered for use upon further, am ounts of ore.

Some of the chemical reactions which bytheiollo'wing equations, viz

A. .Z'nc ores (-ooncentrotee',..lims,- etc.)

Content: ZnS, gangue;

P178, ZFeS -Ag S- I and REINERT Foli.

This combination willwhen c ool'ed in ,.t h'e condenser if in conteotrvith O1 Gee er-eke up more chlOIin and form -2 61 f B, Oom ZQw Jc per-M M be. i

en e- 1, mused-sou 1 +S2Cl- .2. .2N +6G1=2 f 12 2 (For Zing-lead and iron,.see above.) The boiling points for the above chloride I. Thesulfids .referredtointhis specification eon-min one or more sulfids, and the term ores? thel appended claimsis intended'to pigeryt e same.

Chlori-p is preferably used inmy process f r ti s on sulfi ut 1 m y use am suits 1e halogen. i i i. -hMe M i nee m eh h s l i ores, .etc., hereto be crushed depends upon the natureof the ore. 'Theifineness should 1 chlorinat on.

vioiisly been oxidized; to oxide or sulfates.

m e an t note should esoregnleted to insure complete c lorinafion without waste. In prao'tioe it is ound thpt a smaller; guan- :tity-p'f ehlorin then ;.whpt is r uiited JO-sat: rate; the Sulfidsmey-be used with admmafi his is d te-SiGh w re re e 8 sulfide presentan w th n the med; s.ol,.sambwaede hieoifiestionotiietters Patent. vIfgi, ee11i;4 1i h'mr glks", 19:13. Application filed March 27,1919. Seriallio. 157,250.} v

Content: ots; NiS;*ZnS, res, FeS and mayjheerude ores cqn n a h-W 5 v I taihngs and theym y heuthet whiohiwill seenrethe most complete:

I It's not newssary-biit preferably the 5111M Z i ,1 fores, .atc.,should bejree from-moisture [The (dist llat onn al 21 Pom t ve el 1 I smell proportion of the sufids have the Th quentey o h ewin r quir de p nd mainly-P 1 e 1 ;free;eh1m:in's rm ng -me t qhlerid end,

classes of ores will correspond to the quanof time necessary .for the reaction between will be effected and at such a temperature ,30

. a condensing arrangement where they are or. sublimatein the respective condenser or condensers and are ltapped therefrom, for fur-' whereb the end-products will be metals and and over again with some losses which are ized chlorids can if wanted be first passediron. The first condenser would be mainto freesulfur simply by returning it to the furnace. From this it'will be seen that the quantity of chlorin to be used for certain tity of metals present The temperature in the furnace is regulated-by the objectrin view. If complete volatilization of allthe chlorids is wanted, then .the furnace must be heated to the boiling of the least volatile chlorid. The length the chlorin and the sulfids depends upon many factors such as the fineness of the ore, themethod of contact, the temperature, etc. The necessary temperature can be obtained and maintained solely by the formation heat of the chlorids or .by exterior artificial. heating, orby both. As the formation heat of the chlorids is very high, it will be. possible also with a comparatively low grade ore to obtain the required temperature, from the heat of the reactions.

, To work my process the sulfid ores, etc. are crushed to a suitable degree of fineness andfed into a furnace which may be of a converter type or any other suitable form. The chlorin gas is passed or forced through the charge in such a way that a good contact that a distillation takes place. The vapor through a dust collector and therefrom into condensed into one or more fractions asare desired. As an example sup osing l wanted to separate the chlorids '0 lead, .ZlIlC and tained at a tem eratzi're just below the boiling point of? 1,, i. e. 900 "(1, the sec ond condenser would be under, 730 0., and thev third condenser wouldflbe maintained. under 280." 0., and so on. Also they may be se arated in two fractions, one under 730 thus-obtaining a mixture of lead and zinc chlorids, and the second under 280 C. thus'obtaining iron chlorid and sulfur. The spent ores, etc., or'residues which maybe discharged continuously or periodically will if a complete distillation were, effected practically only contain the gold and silver from the original ore as the chlorids of these metals do not- 'distil but disassociate-into metals and'chlorin at a comparatively' low temperature? These metals may be extracted fromth'e residuesby the cyanid or other well known-processes. The,

na e to this specification the presence of fraction or fractions collect in a molten state the'r treatment Ifoi" example lectrolyzing free 0 orin which latter can be used over made up as required. On the other hand a partial distillation could be effected, for example for an ore containing lead, zinc and iron, or copper and iron, if the temperature in the furnace were kept at, about 500 C. 1

an easy method of distilling off any objectionable chlorids which I may wish to remove and keep others which it would be profitable to utilize.

1 claim:' 4

1. A method of chloridizing sulfid ores, of zinc, lead, iron, copper, nickel, arsenic, silver and the like, which comprises treating said ore with chlorin gas, at a temperature at which said metals, with the exception of silver, areconverted into chlorids, and certain of said chlorids are volatilized, and chlorid of sulfur is formed and volatilized; passing said volatilized chlorids, to ther with any remaining chlorin and chlorid of sulfur, and other gases into contact with a further amount of said ore, at a temperature at which the chlorid of-sulfur will attack said metal sulfids, and form chlorids of said -me,tals except silver, and free sulfur and at which temperature certain only, of said chlorids are volatile.

2. A method of producing halogen compoundsfrom sulfid ores of zinc, lead, iron, copper, nickel, arsenic, silver and the like,

which comprises treating said ore with a halogen reagent inthe form of a gas, at a temperature at which said metals, except silver, are converted into halogen compounds and certain of said compounds are volatilized, and a halogen compound of sulfur is formed and volatilized; assing-said volatilized halogen compoun s of sulfur and I i genreagent remaining, and other gases presv metals, together with any unchanged halocut, into contact with a further amount of; sulfid ore, at a temperature at which the sulfid-halogen compound and free halogen will attack said sulfid ore, andform halogen 'com-. pounds of said metals except silver, and free' sulfur, at which temperature certain only of said 'metal-halogen'com ounds are volatile. In testimony whereo I- have signed my two subscribing witnesses.

Witnesses: Senor: Invme, I 4 OSWALQTHOM'Z'AS'OLLIVER. 

